Andaman’s former chief secretary sent to police custody till November 25 in gang rape case
Port Blair:
A local court on Wednesday sent former Chief Secretary of Andaman and Nicobar Islands Jitendra Narayan to police custody till November 25 in connection with a gang rape case filed against him and others by a 21-year-old woman.
The police sought the custody of Narayan, who was in judicial remand, as the Special Investigation Team (SIT) wants to jointly interrogate him along with two other accused — suspended labor commissioner Rishishwar Lal Rishi and Sandeep Singh alias Rinku, a businessman.
After hearing the arguments of public prosecutor Sumit Karmakar, victim’s lawyer Fatik Chandra Das and Rishi’s lawyer Rakesh Pal Govind, Chief Judicial Magistrate Ayan Majumdar remanded Narayan and Singh to police custody till November 25.
Rishi, who was arrested on Monday after reaching here from Chennai, has been in police custody since November 22.
The three accused were taken to police lines by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by IPS officer Monika Bhardwaj for joint questioning.
The SIT was formed to probe allegations that a 21-year-old woman was taken to the chief secretary’s house on the pretext of a government job and then raped by top officials, including Narayan.
Singh, who is absconding, was arrested from Haryana on November 13.
The FIR in the case was registered on October 1 when Narayan was posted as the chairman and managing director of the Delhi Financial Corporation. The government had suspended him on October 17 with immediate effect.
The woman claimed in the FIR that since her father and step-mother did not take care of her financial needs, she needed a job and some people had introduced her to the labor commissioner as he was close to the then chief secretary.
It also claimed that the chief secretary appointed “7,800 candidates” to various departments in the administration of the islands “only on the basis of recommendation” and without any “formal interview”.
The woman alleged that she was taken to the Chief Secretary’s house on the pretext of a government job and then raped there on April 14 and May 1.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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